Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power had reached the sixty-second tier, placing him among the top attendees at the banquet, surpassing many Great Saints of the Hundred Shackles Realm. Yet, he couldn’t detect even a trace of Lan Ying’s presence, which caused a slight unease in his heart.
This was an unfathomably deep enemy!
Even if Lan Ying’s target wasn’t him at this moment, it was enough to send chills down one’s spine.
Empress Yu, a master of talismans and arrays, had even stronger spiritual power than Zhang Ruochen. She had recently broken through to the sixty-fourth tier, undoubtedly ranking among the top twenty in spiritual power strength at this Hunting Heaven Battle.
Yet, even she could not find any trace of Lan Ying.
“Could he have already left? After all, everyone knows that no force can compete with the Yama Clan. There’s no point wasting time here,” Empress Yu said.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, “The power of the Radiant Lotus pill spirit far exceeds everyone’s expectations, causing Yan Huangtu to fail to subdue it before the pill contest ended. Now, all the factions have freed up their hands. If they attack together, even the Yama Clan, no matter how strong, won’t be able to withstand them.”
“In other words, the Yama Clan has missed the best opportunity to claim the pill. At this moment, the other factions are holding back only because the Radiant Lotus pill spirit’s spiritual will has not yet been fully refined.”
“The Yama Clan’s tight formation is precisely because they know this.”
Great Saint Yixuan agreed with Zhang Ruochen’s view, saying, “Lan Ying’s nature is extremely greedy. He would never give up on the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill. I’m afraid there’ll be quite a show today.”
“If the situation is disrupted, we might have a chance as well,” Empress Yu smiled, her gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen’s sharply defined profile, his deep eyes, and prominent nose.
She was well aware of how important this Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill was to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen’s brows furrowed deeply, his mind preoccupied with another matter.
If Lan Ying could hide so flawlessly at this moment, wouldn’t it be effortless for him to come after Zhang Ruochen in the future?
Having such an enemy would make any cultivator restless.
“I must break through to the Hundred Shackles Realm as soon as possible.”
Using spatial rules, Zhang Ruochen observed the spatial structure and celestial distribution of this star domain, calculating in his mind which direction someone might take to break out if they managed to seize the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill from the Yama Clan.
“Come, follow me.”
Zhang Ruochen led Empress Yu and Great Saint Yixuan to another direction, arriving at a vast cosmic dust and star river belt.
Millions of fragmented rocks converged, flowing like a great river through the starry sky, emitting a purplish-black dim glow.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Empress Yu, how long would it take you to set up a grand array here?”
Empress Yu quickly surveyed the surroundings and said, “With my spiritual power, I could set up an eighth-grade array in an instant. A ninth-grade array, however, is far more complex and would take more time.”
“I’ll use the power of time to assist you. Set up a ninth-grade array as quickly as possible,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Empress Yu frowned, “Is there any point in setting up an array here? An ordinary ninth-grade array can only deal with an Immortal Realm Great Saint and would merely cause some interference to a Great Saint at the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm, who could break through it quickly. It’s meaningless. As for a ninth-grade array capable of handling a Thousand Questions Realm Great Saint, it would take a significant amount of time to inscribe the array patterns, not something that can be done in a short while.”
“It’s just a precaution. Even if it doesn’t come to use, we lose nothing,” Zhang Ruochen said, uncertain whether anyone could seize the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill from the Yama Clan.
He wasn’t even sure if the one who seized the pill would escape in this direction.
Setting up the array was merely an extra preparation.
After spending considerable time together, Empress Yu trusted Zhang Ruochen deeply. Thus, she split off a hundred thousand spiritual power thoughts, transforming them into a hundred thousand spiritual power saint thought avatars, swiftly inscribing array patterns across this star domain.
Zhang Ruochen activated a vast number of time marks, slowing the flow of time to buy her more time.
In the distance, as time passed, the radiance emanating from the Radiant Lotus pill spirit grew increasingly dim, like a star gradually aging and declining, losing its once scorching energy.
The pill spirit’s spiritual will was nearly fully refined.
The various factions gathered on the outskirts began to stir, slowly closing in.
The Yama Clan’s nearly thousand Great Saints formed a circular formation, their bodies erupting with astonishing might, causing the entire starry sky to tremble faintly.
Such saintly威势 would deter even a Supreme Realm Great Saint.
Suddenly, a crimson blaze emerged from the southern starry sky.
The cultivators looked closely and saw it was a meteor shower composed of cosmic dust and star fragments, burning with flames and accelerating rapidly.
Flaming boulders, stone mountains, and shattered stars…
They covered the sky.
If they struck a ruin world or a planet, they could destroy it in an instant.
“Mere tricks. Stay alert and block them.”
With this shout, a Yama Clan Great Saint at the Hundred Shackles Realm struck first, unleashing a golden shield.
As the inscriptions on the shield emerged, it expanded to eight hundred zhang wide and a thousand zhang tall, spinning as it flew, pulverising chunks of cosmic dust into powder.
“Rumble.”
The Yama Clan’s Great Saints acted in unison, some casting saint techniques, others wielding sacred weapons, clashing with the meteor shower.
Having completed the array, Empress Yu returned to Zhang Ruochen’s side and said, “A meteor shower can’t break through the Yama Clan’s defences. It’s just a waste of effort.”
“No, while the meteor shower can’t breach their defences, it can cause the greatest disruption with the least manpower, tying up the most Yama Clan Great Saints.”
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the direction of the meteor shower, using the Eye of Truth to spot, in the distant starry sky, the figure of Red Pagoda, the second-in-command of the Green Deer Divine Hall.
Red Pagoda had transformed into its true form, a pureblood divine beast with a body over three hundred li long, turning the surrounding starry sky into a blood sea spanning ten thousand li.
Each breath it took could stir thousands of cosmic dust particles, relentlessly directing them toward the Yama Clan.
“That’s a Blood Zheng. It must be Red Pagoda, who has also reached the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm. It seems the Green Deer Divine Hall is our Blood Heaven Tribe’s greatest rival in this Hunting Heaven Banquet,” Great Saint Yixuan said.
Red Pagoda, having broken through to the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm, made even Empress Yu feel wary.
A pureblood divine beast, once mature, was at least at the pseudo-god level.
Red Pagoda’s combat power in the same realm was undoubtedly formidable.
“Since Red Pagoda has made a move, your guess is correct. Lan Ying must be nearby,” Empress Yu said gravely.
Great Saint Yixuan exclaimed, “Look, Wujiang and over a dozen top Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints from the Nether Clan have acted, along with Xi and Yan Hong Great Saint…”
A large number of cultivators attacked the Yama Clan.
The clash of over a thousand Great Saints unleashed earth-shaking power fluctuations, spreading tens of thousands of li, forming destructive energy tides.
Except for the Yama Clan Great Saints in the central formation, no other faction’s Immortal Realm Great Saints dared join the fray, fearing injury. A severe injury that couldn’t heal within a hundred days would surely affect their performance in the Hunting Heaven Battle.
Even the gods of the Hell Realm hadn’t anticipated the situation escalating to this point.
The Hunting Heaven Battle had just begun, yet the top powerhouses of the ten clans were already engaged in a chaotic melee.
The Pill Attendant showed a worried expression; a battle of this scale could easily lead to the fall of Great Saints.
The Fuluo Black-Robed High Priest smiled at him and said, “The Divine Lord just sent me a divine oracle, instructing us not to intervene forcefully. Let them fight and see who has the greater skill to claim the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill. Even if a hundred Great Saints fall, it’s no matter.”
The Pill Attendant gave a wry smile, “In the eyes of a powerhouse like the Fuluo Divine Lord, a hundred ordinary Great Saints are worth less than a single outstanding one. Very well, let’s watch and see how they display their abilities. Seizing the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill from the Yama Clan is no easy feat.”
The Yama Clan’s eleven Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm powerhouses, along with Yan Wushen, stood in twelve positions around the Radiant Lotus pill spirit, each unleashing Hell Yama Qi into the ruyi-shaped Supreme Sacred Weapon.
The Supreme Sacred Weapon’s power turned the surrounding thousand li into a forbidden zone, where even Immortal Realm and Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints faced life-threatening danger, their immortal saint bodies at risk of being crushed.
At the critical moment of nearly extinguishing the Radiant Lotus pill spirit, a speck of light appeared a hundred li behind one of the Yama Clan’s Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints, manifesting in nine lights and eighteen colours.
The light expanded, forming a mass of colourful divine clouds.
The Yama Clan’s twelve powerhouses sensed it instantly, their twelve pairs of eyes erupting with sharp, murderous intent.
“Daring to covet the Emperor Grade Saint Will Pill? Destroy him.”
Yan Huangtu channelled the Supreme Sacred Weapon’s power, and the ruyi unleashed a formidable supreme force, soaring a hundred li into the sky, condensing into a massive ruyi shadow that struck toward the nine-coloured divine cloud.
If hit by this strike, even an early Thousand Questions Realm Great Saint would be severely injured or possibly fall.
The supreme might caused the stars to tremble.
“Swish—”
The nine-coloured divine cloud moved at the speed of light, unaffected by the supreme force. In an instant, it rushed behind one of the Yama Clan’s Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints, condensing into a human form.
It was an eight- or nine-year-old child, its body as if carved from divine stone, radiating brilliance, yet emanating overwhelming killing intent.
The killing intent was so strong it materialised, forming a blood sword of slaughter.
“Slash!”
Before the Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint could deploy any defence, his immortal saint body was cleaved in two.
However, the sword lacked the power to annihilate the saint soul, life force, or spiritual will, so the Great Saint was only severely injured, not killed.
Clearly, Lan Ying didn’t want to become mortal enemies with the Yama Clan.
Though a spirit of slaughter, he wasn’t driven solely by killing. He understood the bigger picture, knew how to strategize and build momentum, how to bide his time, and how to seize opportunities.
From a distance, Zhang Ruochen, who had been watching, clearly witnessed this scene and sighed inwardly, “The Cosmic Divine Embryo lives up to its reputation, possessing the power to kill a Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saint in one strike. More terrifyingly, he’s also cunning. This Hunting Heaven Battle will be my greatest trial and challenge, a test of life and death.”
